T_Clark

Here are the steps that seem likely to me. The big bang; expanding universe; yada, yada, yada; and we have the world as it was 3.5 billion years ago. ...

Well, I don't necessarily disagree with what you say, but that doesn't seem like the question you were asking in the OP and the one I thought I was an...

No, sorry.

I read an evaluation of the monkey/Shakespeare scenario somewhere. The conclusion was that all the monkeys in the world typing for as long as the univ...

Now you're being needlessly contentious. You know I didn't say that self-organization of minerals is what caused life to begin. I said it was a plausi...

Well, that's the heart of the matter right there. You belong to a large group of people who believe that the history of life shows the actions of an "...

Let's take an everyday, scientifically and technologically important, well studied, non-quantum example - the behavior of a gas in a closed container....

Professor Gillis retired last year. I never had any classes with him. He was in the physics department.

You didn't answer my question. Are you denying that life is a physical, chemical, and biological process?

Science cannot answer why and I don't care why. How is what matters and what I want to know.

Explain please. What in my statement do you disagree with?

Evidence of what? Are you denying that life is a physical, chemical, and biological process?

I didn't "skip over" intentionality, I reject it because there is no evidence for it or need for it. Why complicate a simple understanding with unnece...

But we're not talking about a Beethoven symphony. We're talking about physical, chemical, and biological processes and how they relate to each other. ...

How do you know it's not? Why wouldn't it be? Why would you expect that a common phenomenon of nature such as life would have to have an exotic explan...

How did my "I think it is likely" turn into your "unremitting hope followed by a strong belief?" My thoughts come from two sources 1) In the absence o...

I'm not sure if we are agreeing or disagreeing. As I said to BitterCrank in an earlier post, I think it is likely that the life began as the result of...

I agree, a lot of people don't care much for objectivism. Fair or not, a lot of that has to do with Ayn Rand's life and personal characteristics. She ...

Are you saying that science does not know how life started? I think you're right, but so what? Science does not know the cause of many things. I don't...

Let's see. Well, it's not an epistemic paradox because epistemic paradoxes deal with what we know and can know. And it's not paradox at all, since the...

So, you're open minded but unwilling or unable to commit to any position about what you know or can know. Why do you think you need all those words to...

I doubt there's any big mystery to it. My money is on life beginning because of some mundane physical or chemical process that we just haven't identif...

It is my understanding that kangaroos and opossums had a common ancestor, and that kangaroos did not evolve from opossums.

As I said in my brilliant response that you so heartlessly erased, don't ask us to help you figure out what you are. Show us what you are and we'll he...

As you appear to be, I am confused by Javra's response to your post. I thought it was responsive and moved the discussion forward. On the other hand, ...

No one, not Descartes or any other philosopher I can think of, has said that we can't "(in some sense) acquire certainty about the world..." All the a...

Discussions of "being" always immediately bog down in differences of definition expressed in convoluted language. It can be frustrating and pointless....

This is not a very good paraphrase of Descartes's argument. He was interested in skepticism about absolute certainty as a philosophical world view - a...

I like the use of "ridiculous" in this way. The first time I heard it used, I knew exactly what it meant. It's a replacement for "amazing" or "fantast...

There are free versions online.

I choose not to respond to an insulting comment. See my response above.

Get a copy of the Tao te Ching. Whatever version. I like Stephen Mitchell's, which is very Westernized. See if it affects you. The Tao is nothing hidd...

In that case, how will humanities mark on the universe be any more than a small sun that never had any planets and died out after 10 billion years som...

First, if we are made in God's image, why would it be strange that what he provides matches human needs? Also - your separation of the uses of God as ...

I think that's unavoidable when you build a religion that makes claims about actual events which did or did not take place in the world.

History started about 5,000 years ago, when the first writing was developed. That makes sense, because the etymology of "history" is "story." History ...

Thinker - Higgs Bosons exist. Agustino - No they don't. Thinker - Look, they just detected one at CERN. Agustino - Oh, I guess you're right.

To the extent that I am qualified to be a judge of what is heresy, which is zero, I don't think claiming that God would ask someone to kill one of the...

If there were a good reason to doubt your statement and if it mattered and if I were interested in arguing, which there isn't and it doesn't and I'm n...

I think you're right. I'll try to stop. I should have said "None of those is quite right." I think you know that. This isn't the post to do it on.

No, formally, the burden of proof doesn't work both ways. Those supporting a proposition have to provide the evidence. Those who don't support it coun...

Battle lines drawn years ago with no chance of movement. Kind of like WW1 trench warfare.

I was going to ask that but I was afraid to sound stupid. I thought it was the probability waves of the locations of the electrons that interfered wit...

Oh, Sapientia, you are incorrigible. Discussing things with you is fun. It's not ethics, it's the quality of the philosophy. Cluttering your statement...

Good point. What's my response....? Thinking...? Still thinking...? First of all, logic and rationality are overrated. Deductive logic misses the whol...

Maybe this was my fault for not being clearer about what I meant by experiencing the presence of God in one's life. I'm not talking about burning bush...

I don't understand why it shouldn't be taken seriously. You and I both believe people's reports of what they experience every day. You're saying repor...

Here I am, sitting in my chair. My fan is on. It's almost time for dinner. The sun is a bit low in the West. The chair arms are brown-stained wood, as...

I don't see the difference between "a relationship with the sacred" and "direct access to God." What, do you think, that God is too busy to deal with ...

For most issues in the world, you don't need much math to deal with them. People successfully reason with each other every day without using formal lo...